canada

By ROB TRIPP, THE WHIG-STANDARD

 

The federal Tories have politicized a prison space crisis in a bid to make emergency spending look like economic development, charges a Liberal MP.

 

Conservative MPs and ministers have begun criss-crossing the country, making campaign-style announcements at each one of 35 federal penitentiaries where new cells will be built to accommodate an exploding inmate population.

 

"The Conservatives don't miss an opportunity to try to turn anything into pork barrelling, and so what they're doing of course is to masquerade this outrageous and outlandish prison spending as somehow being a stimulus to the economy," Ajax-Pickering MP Mark Holland told the Whig-Standard Wednesday.

  Read more »

By BILL CLEVERLEY, Timescolonist.com

 

Sharing of dirty needles by Victoria's injection-drug users increased substantially after the city's only fixed needle exchange closed in 2008, according to a study by the University of Victoria's Centre for Addictions Research of B.C.

 

And rates of needle sharing — a practice that contributes to the spread hepatitis C and HIV — have remained significantly higher in Victoria than Vancouver over the past three years, researchers say.

 

"There's more reusing of needles as well. So people are using the same needle over and over again, which poses a number of other health problems like abscesses," said study co-author Andrew Ivsins, a UVic graduate student.

  Read more »

By KAREN SELICK, Freelance

 

Widespread ridicule from abroad has apparently caused the Iranian government to back down on outlawing certain hairstyles for men -ponytails, for instance.

 

Nevertheless, Iranians have been subject to grooming and dress codes for decades. This summer, Iranian police have been arresting women for such heinous offences as wearing too much lipstick or sporting sun tans. Barber shops have been ordered by police not to pluck men's eyebrows.

 

Do the people of Iran enjoy liberty? Most Canadians, upon hearing of these bizarre rules, would respond with a resounding "No!" Such regimentation, enforced by law, spells full-fledged authoritarianism to us -the very antithesis of liberty.

  Read more »

By: Brett Taylor, CBC News

 

Brett Taylor is an associate professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine, and holds a Masters in health informatics. He works as a researcher, lecturer and emergency pediatrician through Dalhousie University and the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.

Here is a finding that won't surprise you: childhood obesity in Canada has risen dramatically in the last generation.

 

Obesity is a particularly pernicious illness. Children who are obese have higher risks of being obese adults. Children with obesity-related illnesses such as Type 2 ("adult form") diabetes and high blood pressure are becoming increasingly common.

  Read more »

By Heather Polischuk, The Leader-Post

 

Despite a huge drop in overall crime within the past decade, the Regina Police Service still has plenty of work to do, Chief Troy Hagen told the Board of Police Commissioners Wednesday.

 

At Wednesday's meeting, the RPS presented its mid-year crime statistics, which studies year-over-year numbers, as well as trends within the past decade.

 

When looking at total crime, 2.3 per cent fewer crimes were reported when compared to mid-year 2009 -- dwarfed by the 35-per-cent reduction from the decade's record high in 2001. Number-wise, that's 10,690 crimes reported during the first half of 2010 versus 16,435 in 2001.

  Read more »

By Carlito Pablo, Georgia Straight

 

Sex-trade worker Susan Davis has a case of the creeps, and it’s not because of a bad date or a stalker.

 

The veteran sex professional says that what’s making her “just really terrified” are the regulatory changes to the Criminal Code announced by the federal Conservative government on August 4 of this year.

 

Maintaining a brothel wasn’t legal before: it previously carried a prison term of not more than two years. But under the new regulations, the minimum penalty is five years of jail time. That’s because keeping a bawdy house is now classified as a “serious offence”, along with 10 gambling and drug crimes.

  Read more »

By: University of Victoria

 

A new report by the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research (CARBC) reveals that Victoria’s drug users continue to share dirty needles after the closure of the city’s only needle-exchange facility.

 

About 400 people a month used the facility, which opened more than 20 years ago. In May 2008, the needle-exchange was evicted from its downtown location after months of complaints from businesses and residents about noise, crime, garbage and human waste on the two-block street on which it was located.

  Read more »

LTE The Star: Alex Long

 

The Harper Conservatives are at it again with their costly conduct-no-research policy making. Rob Nicholson and Stephen Harper are spearheading a campaign to introduce mandatory minimum sentences for a litany of drug crimes.

 

After their first two attempts failed (Bill C-26 and Bill C-15), the Conservatives are hoping the newly stacked Senate will pass this bill unamended. The bill introduces mandatory minimum drug penalties for offenses like growing six marijuana plants or making a pot brownie and sharing it with friends. This comes at a time when recent polls suggest more than half of Canadians want marijuana legalized.

  Read more »

By Roszan Holmen - Victoria News

 

While Victoria council recently approved portable washrooms for a growing street population camping along Pandora Avenue, the new amenities may soon prove unnecessary.

 

On Thursday, council decides whether to ban tents on the boulevard or road median.

 

It’s not a new idea.

 

Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe first proposed it in July 2009 after a number of vehicle collisions with pedestrians in the area.

 

The bylaw proposal is being met with both praise and scorn.

 

Victoria police Sgt. Grant Hamilton said camping on the boulevard is a “recipe for disaster.”

  Read more »

By: Andre Picard, Globe and Mail

 

What a cruel juxtaposition of events.

 

Last Thursday, a committee of the Ontario Legislature released a hard-hitting report on the need to fundamentally transform the province’s mental-health and addictions system.

 

Then, on Sunday, as if to underscore the urgency of implementing their recommendations, Toronto Police shot to death 25-year-old Reyal Jensen Jardine-Douglas. The shooting is still under investigation, but his “crime” seems to have been to suffer from mental illness.

  Read more »